Did 'Solo: A Star Wars Story' posters plagiarize album covers? Decide for yourself.
After a controversy-free production, Star Wars: The Last Jedi opened last December to critical acclaim and a $1.33 billion global haul. However, Disney and Lucasfilm’s next effort, Solo: A Star Wars Story, has had a far bumpier path to the big screen. After firing original directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller and replacing them with Ron Howard, and then enduring rumors that star Alden Ehrenreich required an acting coach to nail down his performance, the upcoming sci-fi origin story finally debuted a well-received trailer during February’s Super Bowl, which seemed to quiet the negative chatter surrounding the feature. Now, two months before it arrives in theaters, the film is facing a fresh round of criticism — this time over claims that the film’s posters plagiarized another artist’s work.
On Friday, French artist Hachim Bahous took to Facebook to point out that Solo’s stylish color-coded one-sheets are extremely similar to the collection of album covers he designed for Sony Music France. To bolster his case, he included side-by-side comparisons. And, well, the similarities — from concept to font to color to compositional elements — are hard to dismiss. [Editor’s note: Bahous’s Facebook post was removed Monday morning, but a screenshot is below.]
A translated excerpt from his foreign-language message reads, “I am flattered that the quality of my work is recognized, but it is still pure and simple forgery, I have not been asked for my permission, I wish to be credited and paid for this work I have done for Sony!” Helping his argument, Screenrant reports that Bahous’s work was originally commissioned in 2015, and the Legacy albums were released in 2016, so there’s no doubt that they predate Solo’s posters.
Disney has yet to respond publicly to the accusations, and the creators of the posters themselves remain unknown as this time.
Solo: A Star Wars Story blasts into theaters on May 25.
Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:
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The Millennium Falcon in ‘Solo’ looks different — here’s a spoiler-free explanation why
Watch the Solo trailer:
